1. Field of the Invention
The invention is generally related to biological and chemical detection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Antibody conjugated fluorescent tagging (ACFT) has been used to locate and identify specific biological organisms based on antigen/antibody recognition and binding. If a sample contains the entity for which the antibodies are matched, they will bind to it. Antibodies, or other types of molecular binding entities such as molecular beacons or aptamers can be prepared with fluorescent markers, so when the sample mixture is rinsed the target species can be identified using optical methods. Through the use of self quenching or fluorescence resonant energy transfer (FRET), binding entities can be produced which do not fluoresce unless bound, creating a fluorescent switch to signal the presence of the targeted antigen. The use of these may allow for the labeling and subsequent identification of multiple types of aerosols at the same time. These types of biological markers, continue to be a high interest area of research and have been created for many types of biological particles such as proteins, viruses, and bacteria such as anthrax cells, spores, and related bacterial species used for biological threat simulants.
Current biological detection systems, which are based on the type of assay interrogations mentioned above, make the determination of the presence of particular aerosols by performing a complicated, multi-step process. The sampling, collection, and final assay procedures can consume a large amount of analyte and is generally time consuming.